The Legend of Korra: Confrontation
by maila08
Summary: It's time to confront Sozi...
1. Chapter 1

Thank BG-13! Best Co author!

* * *

The twins were sleeping peacefully together a few rooms down from their mother's. The storm outside seemed to be far from vanishing. Thunder clapped and the kids immediately sat up in bed. They looked at each other and smiled. It was just thunder. They lay back down in their bed until they heard a voice echo against the walls.

_"Mac…Karah…" it called._

The twins sat up and gave each other a confused look as they searched around the room, finding no one there.

_"Korra…help her…" it continued._

"Aang," they said in sync. Quickly they threw off the covers and ran to their mother's room, opening the door. Their father was in bed, but their mother wasn't. They gave each other a worried glance before leaving the room.

"Let's split up," Karah suggested. "We'll meet here after we search the whole house." Her brother nodded and both children went off in opposite directions. A few minutes later they met up again.

"Any luck?" Mac panted, his hands on his thighs. The little Firebender shook her head.

_"Outside…hurry…" the voice instructed_. Both twins bolted outside and looked around not knowing where to start. _"The courtyard…"_

The children took off in the direction the voice directed and stopped dead in their tracks. A few feet away from there a figure lay on the cold cement. Karah looked down, eyes wide as she saw a trickle of blood crawl towards her.

"Mom!" Mac called immediately by his mother's side. The little Firebender knelt beside her, gently shaking her mother. Korra let out a small whimper at the touch. Karah sighed in relief. Their mother was alive.

"I'm going to go get Dad," she told her brother. "Try not to move her too much." The little Waterbender gave her a nod and pulled his mother's head onto his lap, earning another whimper from the weakened Avatar.

"It's ok, Mom," he soothed, patting her face.

"Stay…away…" she murmured. He shook his head.

"No. I'm staying here with you. None of this is your fault." The Avatar's eyes tightened as she weakly shook her head.

"Azula…stay way…" she repeated, and that's when he understood. She wasn't telling him to leave, she was telling him to stay away from what did that to her. His fists clenched. He'd had enough. Azula was going to pay for what she did. His thoughts were interrupted by his father's scream.

"Korra!" he yelled as he knelt down beside her. He gently turned her around to face him and caressed her face. He tried to carefully cradle her in his arms but she still let out a shriek of pain. The twins ran ahead to awaken Katara and their grandmother.

* * *

"Is she going to be ok?" Mako asked as he saw the water glow in the tub his wife lay in. Katara gave a deep sigh.

"These cuts are very deep," she replied.

"But you can heal them right?"

"I'm not only talking about her physical wounds, Mako. I'm also talking about her emotional ones."

The Firebender nodded, holding his wife's hand. "I'm here for you," he whispered kissing it. "We're here for you. Please pull through, Korra."

* * *

The twins looked up when the door to the infirmary opened. Their father had their mother in his arms, who was wrapped up in a blanket. He motioned them to follow him and they made their way to their mother's room, where he gently laid her down, covering her up with another set of blankets.

"You two need to get out of those clothes before you catch a cold," he instructed. The children nodded and quickly ran to their room.

"Karah," the little Waterbender began as they turned their backs against each other to change.

"Hmm?"

"I think it's time."

"Time for what?" the little Firebender asked confused.

"We need to tell everyone about Sozi," Mac whispered.

* * *

Mako sat on a chair next to his wife's bed, holding her hand and stroking her cheek tenderly. Korra remained motionless, breathing irregularly but nonetheless holding onto life. He began to stroke her hair when he heard the door open.

"Mako, I need to speak with you," Katara whispered.

The Firebender sighed and turned to look at the elder Waterbender. "What is it?"

"We know who has been controlling Korra." He stiffened. That had gotten his attention.

"I don't want to leave her," Mako stated. The elder Waterbender nodded.

"I'll get everyone."

* * *

"I told you I had a bad feeling about her!" Zuko roared. Katara had just told him what the twins had discovered about his grandniece and he wasn't too happy about it. "She's dangerous! Just like her grandmother!"

"Relax Zuko," Katara patiently replied. "And lower your voice."

"Relax? You want me to relax, Katara? May I remind you that last time you told me to relax was when that child came here! 'Just because he looks like her doesn't mean she's like her'. Well guess what? Apparently it is her! And now we have a half dead Avatar because you told me to relax!" he spat. The children winced along with Mako.

"I don't think Sozi knows what she's doing," Karah interjected. The adults turned to look at her.

"Is that a possibility?" Mako asked. Katara thought about it for a moment.

"It is," she finally replied.

"What makes you think that?" Zuko asked as calmly as he could.

The twins looked at each other. "Sometimes it seemed as if she was coming out of a trance," Mac began.

"Like she didn't know where she was or what she had been doing," his sister added.

"So there is a part we can save?" Sytka asked sleepily.

"It looks like it," Ty answered.

"But how do we test the theory?" Lin asked. Bolin, Asami and Lin had been called to the island after they found Korra to help with the…predicament.

"There isn't a theory to test! We need to get rid of her while we still can," Zuko replied impatiently.

"That's enough Zuko," Katara said sharply, all patience leaving her. "How can you be cruel to your own flesh and blood?"

"Am I the only sane person here?" he asked with disbelief. "She almost killed the Avatar!"

"But it seems Sozi doesn't have control," Mako whispered, caressing his wife's cheek.

"I thought you wanted to protect your wife," the elder Firebender said sourly. Mako stood up from his seat next to his wife.

"Are you insinuating that I don't care about Korra's well being?" he asked, as his hands turning into fists.

"Calm down, both of you," Tenzin said stepping between the Firebenders. Everyone remained silent for a while until the Nonbender of the group spoke up.

"I've heard stories that your mother could…tell when someone was lying?" Asami said to Lin. The Earthbender gave her a nod.

"Yes, she could tell by sensing the person's heartbeat," she explained to everyone.

"But Azula was able to get past that," Korra weakly whispered.

Everyone's attention snapped to the Waterbender who was trying to sit up in the bed. Mako immediately sat down and pulled her close so she could lean on his chest.

"That's right," Katara agreed. "Azula was the only able to get past Toph's 'lie detector'."

"We need to take her down. Now," Zuko repeated.

"No," Korra whispered again.

"You know, one thing I admired about you was that you faced a problem head on, Korra," the elder Firebender began. "You aren't the kind to beat around the bush like Aang was. She needs to be stopped. May I remind you how she almost made you-"

"That's enough!" Mako yelled as he made a move to stand up. Korra let out a small whimper at the sudden movement and he immediately sat back down, apologizing. She took in sharp breath before answering the elder.

"I know what I almost did," she began. "But Azula inhabits a body of a child. I won't take her life. It's not who I am. There has to be a way around this."

Zuko groaned. This sounded way too familiar. "Aang, do you mind? I'm trying to talk to the new Avatar here," he mumbled.

"It's not Aang," Korra replied, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"So how are we going to stop this evil spirit lady?" Bolin asked.

"There isn't anyone who can," Tenzin commented.

"There is," Korra said. "Me."

"No," everyone in the room replied.

"Korra, you're hurt. You can't fight her," Mako said. She shook her head trying to get away from his hold.

"I'm the only one who can," she said, breathing heavily at the effort she was making.

"No Korra, you need to rest. Let us handle this," Katara replied. The Avatar finally gave up trying to get up and collapsed against her husband's chest, grinding her teeth in pain.

"Let's discuss this in another room," Tenzin suggested, seeing Korra yawn. Everyone followed. "Mako, we need you too."

The Firebender hesitated in leaving his wife's side.

"We'll stay with Mom," Karah said. He nodded and laid Korra down, covering her and giving her a light kiss on her temple.

"What about you, kids?" Lin asked.

"We'll stay here too," Ami replied. Ty snorted, knowing that was far from the truth.

Asami eyed the kids but nodded as she followed the rest of the adults to another room.

"What are we going to do?" Sytka asked sensing his cousin had something up her sleeve.

"We need to confront Sozi. We can't let anyone hurt her. Korra doesn't want that," the nonbender explained.

"You go, we'll stay here," Mac said taking a seat next to his mother.

"Yeah, Mom needs us."

The group of three nodded.

"If we don't come back in half an hour," Sytka began.

"Then we probably need you to look for us," Ami finished.

"Not while I'm around," Ty said with a smirk. The twins nodded.

"Be careful," they whispered.


	2. Chapter 2

Shout out to my Co Author BG-13! Thanks dude!

* * *

Sozi slammed the door behind her as tears ran down her cheeks. She had heard the entire conversation the adults had had in Korra's room. It hurt her that they were debating her fate, but it hurt her more that her uncle was willing to stop her by whatever means necessary. It had seemed that they were just starting to get along when this whole mess happened.

"You know sometimes I wonder how you could be my granddaughter," Azula taunted as she appeared before her. "You are nothing like me."

"You're right. I'm not," the little Firebender replied, growing a little courage. Her grandmother narrowed her eyes.

"It doesn't mean you can't be."

"What do you mean?"

"The potential is there," the spirit replied, circling her like a buzzard-wasp. "You just need to tap it, like you did before."

"I don't know what you're talking about," the child answered. Azula gave a wicked laugh.

"Oh but you do." Sozi fell on her knees as a sudden pain went through her head. It felt as if someone was stretching out her brain and then pulling out what they needed. Memories suddenly came to her in a rush.

_"Mom? Who are you talking to?" she asked._

_"No one, Sweetie. Go back to bed," the woman answered tenderly. The child nodded and returned to her bed._

_"I won't allow you to take over my daughter's body."_

_"You don't have a choice," the spirit replied._

_"She's your granddaughter! How could you want the life of pain and suffering for her?"_

_"I will hand her the world in a silver platter!"_

_"Stained with the blood of innocents!" the woman responded. "I will not allow it!"_

_"You don't have a choice!" Azula screeched and set the house on fire with a blue flame. The woman called onto her daughter. The child ran to her, flames everywhere they turned._

_"The window!" she said pointing at a small window wasn't engulfed in flames. The woman hoisted the child up and she managed to get out, landing with a small thud._

_"Mom!" she cried. The woman tried to climb out the window but the roof collapsed, burying her with the rest of the house. The child fell to her knees and sobbed for her mother's loss._

_"Look! It's the girl who burned her mother!" a boy teased. The children giggled at the girl's sadness._

_"Better be careful guys or else she'll burn us too!" another kid said._

_"That's not how you clean!" the head mistress of the orphanage shouted. Sozi flinched and the tone of voice. "Do it again!" the woman added throwing the rag onto the floor._

_The little Firebender nodded and returned to her cleaning as the woman stormed off. She let tears fall down her cheeks. She missed her mom._

_"You weren't born to be treated this way," a voice said. Sozi frowned and stood up, looking around._

_"What do you mean?"_

_"You're the granddaughter of the Princess of the Fire Nation. You shouldn't be doing this."_

_"I can't do anything about it. My mother died and I have nowhere else to go," the girl whispered._

_"You're right," the voice agreed. "Alone you can't do anything, but together…well that's a different story."_

_Sozi thought about it for a minute. "Can you help me?"_

_Azula let out a dark laugh. "Of course."_

_Later that night the orphanage was engulfed in flames. She went through each corridor, making sure the entire building was alight with fire. The head mistress stood in front of a group of children._

_"Stop!" she pleaded._

_Sozi looked up at the woman, a wicked smile on her face. "Why? So that you can teach me how to clean after all of this is over?" the child cried._

_"No, no, that won't happen. Just stop and I'll forget all about this," the woman continued nervously._

_The little Firebender narrowed her eyes at her matron and the terrified children behind her. "And you," she began. "You were right, I will burn you!" she screeched throwing flames at them._

_In the next scene she was on a ship. There were only a handful of men commanding the ship. The child leaned against the boat, looking at the nearby city. She overheard a few men talking._

_"Isn't that Air Temple Island?" one of them asked, pointing at the place in question._

_"Yup, that's it. Avatar Aang built it himself," the other man replied._

_"I heard the new Avatar lives there."_

_"Yeah and so does the ex Fire Lord, Zuko."_

_Azula turned to look at the island. "So my big brother lives with the new Avatar?" She scoffed. "I guess I can pay a family visit" she added, jumping off the boat._

"No!" Sozi cried, falling back to the present

"Yes, you did all of that! You have quite the twisted little mind, my dear. I only acted upon your deepest thoughts!"

"That's not true! I didn't want to hurt all those people!" the girl cried shaking her head.

"You're lying," Azula stated in a singsong voice. "You didn't fight back and you know why? Because that's what you really wanted."

"No," the girl whispered, falling to her knees. That wasn't what she'd wanted. She just wanted to go back, when things were normal. But she knew she couldn't. This was her life and it was falling apart.

"Sozi, open up. We know you're in there," Sytka called knocking on the door.

Azula scowled. "Get rid of them," she commanded before disappearing. The little Firebender wiped her tears away and opened the door.

"What do you guys want?"

"We're here to help you," Ami said.

"I can't be helped," the girl whispered.

"That's a lie and you know it!" Ty said as she stomped her foot on the ground.

"You're our friend Sozi, we want to help you," the nonbender continued.

"Yeah, but you have to let us," the Waterbender added.

The little Firebender broke down in front of them. "You can't help me. She's too strong."

"But you're stronger," the Earthbender said. "We know you can beat her."

Sozi looked up at her friends. They were right. She could beat her; she was the only one that could besides Korra. And she couldn't help her because of what she had done to her. She gave them a nod.

"You don't control me anymore. It's over," she said out loud. For a moment there was silence and then Sozi crumbled to the floor in pain, grabbing her head as the kids watched in horror.

"It's not over until I say it's over!" Azula screeched.

"Uh Ty," Sytka began.

"This isn't the best time, Sytka," Ami answered.

"I think thirty minutes are up, right?" the Waterbender continued.

"I hope so," Ty replied as all three children went into their fighting stance.

* * *

"What are we going to do?" Karah asked her brother. He shrugged. Usually he was the one who came up with the plans but he was drawing a blank with this situation.

"I don't think there's anything we can do," he replied, changing the cloth on his mother's forehead. She had started to shiver after the adults left; it looked as if she might catch a fever.

"But we have to come up with something. We have to help Mom do things the right way. I mean Sozi is our friend. Maybe Aang could help us." The little Waterbender said nothing. "Mac, this isn't the time for your grudges," the little Firebender snapped at her brother's lack of sentiment.

"You're right," he said.

"Well of course I am! Can you just drop your personal-" she began but was cut off.

"It isn't that! You're right about asking Aang!" he explained.

"We can't leave Mom."

He rolled his eyes. Sometimes his sister was a little slow. "I know that."

"What's the plan genius?"

"Mom-"

"Mom can't fight."

"Ugh!" he yelled frustrated. "Will you let me finish!"

The little Firebender blinked at her brother several times. "Go on."

He exhaled to calm himself. "Mom is the Avatar," he started. Karah was about to make a smart comment when Mac shot his sister a look and successfully shut her up. "Aang is her past life. He is within her. Mom can help us reach him."

"Then what?" she asked curiously.

"Remember the stories Master Katara told us?"

"Which one?"

"The one about when Aang Energybended Fire Lord Ozai."

"Yeah, he took his bending." The Waterbender nodded.

"Well he knows how to do that. Now Mom can't right now. She's hurt," he went on.

"But we can! But how? Only the Avatar can do that."

"Azula took over Sozi's body." His twin nodded.

"I'm listening," she replied. He gave her a look and she caught onto what he was suggesting and smiled.

"Two can play that game," Mac finished, smiling as well.


End file.
